Nigerians have this terrible habit of not knowing how to read the room. And I don’t know if it is because we are poor as a country or if it is just a poor value orientation.
It almost feels like a crime to enjoy yourself and post it. The first instinct of the average Nigerian is to bill you.
If you think this is a joke, post a very fine picture of yourself on your WhatsApp status, or a video of yourself having fun and having a good time outside. Before the post expires from your story, at least two people would have billed you.
If you buy a car and post it on social media, a good number of people will text you to congratulate you first, then proceed to bill you afterwards. Which is not just weird but ironic because, if anything, someone who just spent a huge amount of money on a car shouldn’t be burdened with more bills. In fact, you should be the one sending them money for fuel to “wash the car.”
If you buy a house, make a huge purchase, or even get married, the same thing happens.
And the thing about Nigerians and this begging culture is that it comes with so much entitlement.
Because tell me why your friend just told you they spent so much money renovating their place, and after ranting about how financially drained they are, you proceed to bill them for something small because you assume there’s still more from the source. Then, because they didn’t chest the billing, you start seeing them as a bad person.
But in actual sense, you are the bad one because you don’t know how to read the goddamn room.
One thing a lot of us need to learn is how to take NO for an answer without feeling bad or making the person who told us NO feel bad.
Things will not always go your way, and that’s completely okay.
The same way you can’t and shouldn’t say YES to everything is the same way you should be able to handle NO.
Rejection is a core part of life. Get used to it.
A person who always says YES to people is someone who doesn’t have boundaries. That’s a people pleaser.
And a person who doesn’t know how to take NO for an answer, a person who doesn’t know how to handle rejection without feeling bad or making the other person feel bad, is not a good person.
No is a complete sentence. If someone tells you no, that’s the entire message. Don’t ask them why. Don’t guilt-trip them. Don’t manipulate them into changing their mind.
It is terrible.
Not every NO deserves an explanation, and not every rejection is an invitation to negotiate.
Mexico won, that means South Korea must finish up South Africa to qualify for the next round. It’s gonna be easy cos they originally don’t mind Asians taking their jobs.